Camp of the 140th Regt. N. Y. Vols.
Near Petersburg, Va.
December 26th 1864
Dear Sister,
I received a paper from you last evening & in which I find a few words requesting of me to write having heard the regiment had been in a conflict & lost a number of men. That news is false for we have not been in any engagement for some time past though there is no knowing how soon we may be called to the field to engage the enemy.
I have written you once or twice during the last week but whether it is owing to the delay of the mail or miscarrying, I do not know but hope this may reach you in due time & find all well & enjoying life merrily. This leaves me in my usual health and spirits & am in hopes I may still continue while in the army of the U. S. The time looks short—only 8 months and a bit & then I am in hopes of meeting you and the rest.
You are no doubt anxious to have the war come to a close ere long & by the restoration of the self same government. I am am sure there is not a person living who desires to have this wicked rebellion crushed to the earth any more than myself but if it cannot be brought to a close only by giving the South their independence, let me not live to see that day. As for their having things their own way they never will as long as there is a sun in the heavens to give us light to fight our battles. We have them already by the throat & nearly choked to death, but it is a pity to shoot off their [ ] too soon. They will ere long be willing to come under our terms & under the stars & stripes which our forefathers fought and bled for during the Revolution. They already see their folly & also that they cannot whip the hero Gen. Grant but they are ashamed to acknowledge to the world their past folly. However, the time is not far distant when that traitorous foe will have to submit to the laws of the U. S. They will curse the day they ever sullied the laniard to fire the first gun upon the walls of Fort Sumpter.
I would [ ] to see every Southern traitor hung to the nearest tree they could possibly get him & there hung till he was dead, dead, dead.
There are a great many copperheads at the North which death is too good for them. They had ought to be tortured to death for years & undergo woes & hardship than our brave boys who are now prisoners in the hands of the enemy. It is enough to make my blood run cold when I reflect but for a moment on the sufferings which our prisoners have to undergo at Andersonville & at other points.
Everything has been quiet along the line of works today and in fact for some time past, The weather has been very cold for a week or more past though tonight it is somewhat warmer & looks like rain. I suppose you had a grand Christmas dinner. I’ll let you know what I had. A. Booth & another young man at as follows: coffee, sugar, potatoes, bread, butter & a delicious plum pudding which I made myself. Christmas passed off very pleasant. I am in hopes I will have that [illegible] New Year any [illegible].
Adieu for the present, hoping to hear from you soon. Accept from your loving brother, — Chas. C. Miller
Spared & Shared 21 